Written Answers Wednesday 19 December 2007

Alcohol Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether needs assessments are carried out to ensure that people with alcohol addiction receive support and treatment to meet their needs as well as the support of community psychiatric nurses.

Shona Robison: New guidance on Care and Support for People with Co-occurring Substance Misuse and Mental Health Problems was published on 10 December 2007. This recommends that all services should have assessment processes to identify co-morbidity systematically and which will help match care appropriate to level and type of need.

Alcohol Misuse

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any research has been undertaken to assess the relationship between levels of alcohol consumption and depression.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government is not funding any research on alcohol and depression at this time. However, the National Research Register, a UK-wide research database, records a number of on-going projects in the UK on alcohol and depression. Details of these are available at  www.nrr.nhs.uk .

Antisocial Behaviour

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings have been held with community-based organisations regarding the removal of ring fencing from antisocial behaviour funding.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings are planned with community-based organisations regarding the removal of ring fencing from antisocial behaviour funding.

Fergus Ewing: I attended the inaugural Scottish Community Safety Network Chairs and Managers meeting on 29 November 2007 and my officials also met with representatives of the Scottish Community Wardens Network on 11 December 2007. At both these meetings the removal of ring-fenced funding for antisocial behaviour was discussed.

  My officials and I will continue to meet with national and local organisations in the months ahead to discuss how best to tackle antisocial behaviour and promote community safety.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6636 by Shona Robison on 29 November 2007, whether it will make any recommendations or representations to the Food Standards Agency regarding the relationship between meat consumption and cancer in response to the findings of the report by the World Cancer Research Fund.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government continues to be advised by the Food Standards Agency on this matter. The Food Standards Agency’s advice relating to meat consumption remains unchanged and continues to recommend that meat can be eaten in moderation, as part of a healthy balanced diet.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any further advice, research or representations regarding the relationship between the consumption of meat and cancer, following the findings of a recent report by the World Cancer Research Foundation.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government continues to be advised by the Food Standards Agency on this matter. The World Cancer Research Fund goes further than current government advice which continues to recommend moderate consumption of red meat as part of a healthy balance diet. The Food Standards Agency awaits the review on iron and health being carried out by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, which will be available in 2008.

Cancer

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6636 by Shona Robison on 29 November 2007, whether it will make any recommendations or representations to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition regarding the relationship between meat consumption and cancer in response to the findings of the recent report by the World Cancer Research Fund.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government will continue to be advised by the Food Standards Agency on this matter and they in turn are advised by their scientific advisory committees. The Food Standards Agency is aware of the review of iron and health being carried out by Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). This review was initiated by SACN in 2002 and should be available in 2008.

  The World Cancer Research Fund advice on meat consumption goes further than current Food Standards Agency’s advice which recommends that some meat should be consumed as part of a healthy balanced diet. Meat is a good source of iron, zinc, B vitamins and protein but should be eaten in moderation due to its high saturated fat content.

Class Sizes

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what actions it will take other than class size reductions to raise the educational attainment of children living in poverty and deprivation.

Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-7215 on 12 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Community Wardens

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to ensure that dedicated funding for community wardens in the (a) Highland Council, (b) Moray Council, (c) Argyll and Bute Council, (d) Shetland Islands Council, (e) Orkney Islands Council and (f) Western Isles Council areas will continue in 2008-09 and subsequent years.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what extra resources have been specifically identified in the spending review for the funding of community wardens.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which public agencies will be responsible for the funding of an enhanced level of community wardens in the (a) Highland Council, (b) Moray Council, (c) Argyll and Bute Council, (d) Orkney Islands Council, (e) Shetland Islands Council and (f) Western Isles Council areas.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the provision in the budget line for community wardens will be increased before the funds are distributed to local authorities.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding for community wardens will now have to compete for funding with schools, social work and other services within each local authority.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities will now be solely responsible for funding any expansion of community wardens from their grant allocations.

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will promote the expansion of community wardens when no central funds are being retained to support such activity.

Fergus Ewing: Under the concordat agreed between Scottish ministers and COSLA, funding for community safety and antisocial behaviour will be absorbed into the main local government settlement from 1 April 2008.

  The Scottish Government will be providing local government with record levels of funding over the period covered by the Spending Review 2008-11. The vast majority of the funding, including funding for community safety and antisocial behaviour will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority, in conjunction with their Community Planning Partners, to allocate funding on the basis of their local needs and priorities – having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments. We will continue to set the direction of national policy and ensure through national and local outcome agreements that these priorities are being delivered.

Courts

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many witnesses, claiming intimidation, have refused to give evidence on behalf of the Crown in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriff court in the (a) West of Scotland and (b) Central Scotland parliamentary region.

Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC: The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government is committed to modernising the justice system to fully support victims and witnesses, to increase support and improve standards of treatment for vulnerable witnesses to help them participate in legal proceedings and give their best evidence.

  The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is responsive to the needs of intimidated witnesses and works closely with other agencies including the Witness Service and the Scottish Court Service to ensure that, where appropriate, special arrangements are in place for such witnesses including making particular arrangements for the witness to enter and leave from court via a staff door or waiting in area that is separate from the witness waiting room.

  Following implementation of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004, the Crown can apply for special measures for adult vulnerable witnesses whose quality of evidence will be diminished by fear or distress in connection with giving evidence at court to make it easier for them to give their evidence.

Courts

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Crown cases have fallen due to the failure of witnesses to appear in court in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriff court in the (a) West of Scotland and (b) Central Scotland parliamentary region.

Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC: The information requested is not available as it is not held on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) database.

  A number of measures have already been or are being introduced in 2008 as part of the Summary Justice Reform programme to ensure that summary trials are not disrupted because of witnesses failing to appear.

  Firstly, in relation to obstructive witnesses, the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 will introduce new provisions to allow warrants to be granted for obstructive witnesses, to release witnesses on bail until they give evidence and to create a new offence of failing to appear as a witness when on bail.

  Secondly, in relation to witnesses who might feel intimidated, the 2007 act also provides a new standard bail condition that an accused on bail does not behave in a manner which causes, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress to witnesses. In considering whether or not to oppose bail, the Procurator Fiscal will take into account and present to the court any relevant information which suggests a risk of intimidation.

  Any criminal behaviour involving intimidation of witnesses will be taken very seriously by COPFS.

  Finally, to improve the way in which witnesses are cited, COPFS launched the postal service of witness citations in October 2004. Postal citation is more convenient for a witness than having a police officer attend at their door to deliver a witness citation by hand.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the review of alcohol and drug action teams carried out by Peter Bates, former Chair of NHS Tayside, and commissioned by the previous administration is to be published and, if so, when.

Fergus Ewing: We have no plans to publish this report, which was commissioned by the previous administration as an internal study overseen by Peter Bates, former Chair of NHS Tayside. The findings of the exercise helped inform the drugs element of the terms of reference for the stock-taking exercise of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams which was published in July and is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/180389/0051267.pdf.

  Work on the reform of delivery arrangements of drug and alcohol services is currently being taken forward by a joint project group of the Scottish Advisory Committee on Drug Misuse (SACDM) and the Scottish Ministerial Advisory Committee on Alcohol Problems (SMACAP).

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment of alcohol and drug action team activity and audit of outcomes of these teams is proposed by the Executive.

Shona Robison: The Stocktake of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams (ADATs), which was published this summer, found that performance management of ADATS should be strengthened and made a number of recommendations on performance and accountability. The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders to develop arrangements for greater accountability and a more robust performance management system that will allow partners to better demonstrate what they deliver.

Environment

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the strategies, plans or programmes that it has published have not been subjected to a strategic environmental assessment and what the reasons for the decision not to conduct a strategic environmental assessment were in each case.

Michael Russell: The information requested may be divided into two specific categories under current Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) legislation:

  (a) Those strategies, plans and programmes to which the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 does not apply, and

  (b) Those that have been pre-screened out because they have no or minimal effect in relation to the environment.

  In relation to those strategies, plans and programmes that fall into "category a" this information is not held centrally.

  Those that fall into "category b" are entered onto the pre-screening register, which can be accessed on the Scottish Government internet site.

  www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Pre-screening/Q/forceupdate/on.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to page 47 of Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 , what support, advice and treatment services are in place in each NHS board to meet the target to "reduce the rate of increase in the proportion of children with their Body Mass Index outwith a healthy range by 2018".

Shona Robison: Boards undertake a number of activities to promote physical activity and nutrition that contribute to the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. These include support for breastfeeding. An additional investment of £11.5 million each year between 2008-11 has been made available through Spending Review 2007 to fund initiatives to tackle obesity, particularly in children, and to implement the Physical Activity Strategy and the forthcoming Food and Health Delivery Plan. Details of an Obesity Action Plan will be published in early 2008.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review HIV prevention funding to ensure that it is fit for purpose and reflective of changes in epidemiology.

Shona Robison: The funding provided to NHS Boards for Bloodborne Virus prevention work – including HIV prevention work – is calculated using annual incidence data for HIV and hepatitis C. Funding therefore responds to changes in epidemiology of the disease. Bloodborne Virus funding to NHS boards this year will amount to £8.9 million.

  We expect boards to keep under review how this funding is used to ensure that it is fit for purpose and meeting the needs of patients and the public.

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to implement maximum waiting time targets from GP referral to treatment for people with mental health problems.

Shona Robison: There are no plans to do so at this time, but we are working to drive down waiting times for any patient groups that sit outside the maximum waiting time targets. The Better Health, Better Care Action Plan (Bib. number 44287) reaffirmed our commitment to driving forward our ambitious improvement programme for mental health, a priority which is now receiving more attention than ever before, and which is also recognised clearly in the NHS performance HEAT targets for mental health for 2008-09.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what services are available for patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis, broken down by NHS board.

Shona Robison: The information is not available in the form requested. Action for ME has, however, produced a report on the scoping exercise which it carried out with funding from the Scottish Government. The report presents an overview of ME/CFS services in Scotland from the perspectives of key stakeholders, including people with ME, general practitioners, NHS boards and specialist service providers.

  We are currently making arrangements to publish the report and to distribute it to interested bodies such as the Cross Party Group on ME.

NHS Finance

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what each NHS board’s budget for occupational therapy services has been in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: No specific budget has been allocated to NHS boards for occupational therapy services. All NHS boards receive an annual allocation of funds. It is for each board to decide how best to utilise these funds to meet the health care needs of its resident population, including occupational therapy services, taking account of national and local priorities.

Oil and Gas Industry

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3885 by Jim Mather on 18 September 2007, what training programmes are being delivered through PILOT, the joint oil and gas industry/government taskforce, to ensure a safe, effective and highly skilled workforce.

Jim Mather: PILOT is a joint industry/government taskforce to consider key issues that affect the oil and gas sector. It does not have a direct role in the delivery of training. There are already a number of colleges, higher education institutions and training providers in Scotland successfully delivering skills development for the industry.

  We welcome the new OPITO Oil & Gas Academy which was launched on 4 December 2007, by Oil & Gas UK. This new venture, funded by the oil and gas industry, will take a strategic view of the future skills and training requirements of the industry allowing the industry to clearly communicate its training needs to colleges, universities and private training providers across Scotland.

Oil and Gas Industry

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3885 by Jim Mather on 18 September 2007, how the training programmes being delivered through PILOT to ensure a safe, effective and highly skilled workforce will be affected by the establishment of Skills Development Scotland.

Jim Mather: The creation of Skills Development Scotland will give Scotland a coherent body to deliver comprehensive information, advice and guidance for careers and learning as well as the delivery of skills development. We expect all Sector Skills Councils, including Cogent for the oil and gas industry, to develop strong partnerships with the new skills body in order that the views of all employers are heard. It is likely that the new OPITO Oil and Gas Academy will also prove an important partner for Skills Development Scotland.

  We recognise the need to provide stability and continuity for the delivery of our national training programmes during the period of transition to the new body. Skills Development Scotland will be responsible for reviewing the delivery mechanisms for all of our National Training Programmes to ensure that they meet the current and future needs of individuals and employers in Scotland.

Oil and Gas Industry

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3885 by Jim Mather on 18 September 2007, when it expects that the training programmes being delivered through PILOT to ensure a safe, effective and highly skilled workforce will be available to workers in the oil and gas industry.

Jim Mather: PILOT is a joint industry/government taskforce to consider key issues that affect the oil and gas sector. It does not have a direct role in the delivery of training.

  Scotland’s colleges, higher education institutions and private training providers already offer learning and training opportunities that support the work of PILOT to ensure a safe, effective and highly skilled workforce for the oil and gas industry.

Oil and Gas Industry

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether access rights supersede any interdicts imposed by sheriffs.

Fergus Ewing: Sections 9(a) and 9(b) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 state that conduct excluded from access rights includes: being on or crossing land in breach of an interdict or other order of a court, and being on or crossing land for the purpose of doing anything which is an offence or a breach of an interdict or other order of a court.

Prescription Charges

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that the move towards free prescriptions will enable women and children who are victims of alopecia to have prescriptions for real hair wigs, as opposed to acrylic wigs.

Shona Robison: I have approved the reduction in the cost of a modacrylic wig in line with the reduction in prescription charges leading to abolition of the charge from 1 April 2011. Where the clinician prescribes a human hair wig to meet the patient’s clinical need, the charge levied will be the same as a prescription charge. Patients who are exempt from payment of prescription charges will also be exempt from paying a charge for their prescribed wig. Patients whose prescription does not specify provision of a human hair wig will be free to purchase one privately if they prefer.

Prescription Charges

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on prescription charges and how many prescription prepayment certificates have been issued in each year since May 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Shona Robison: Information on revenue from prescription charges and the number of Prescription Pre-payment Certificates is not available in the form requested.

  Table 1 shows the total prescription charge revenue collected from community pharmacists, dispensing doctors, appliance suppliers and from the sale of prescription pre-payment certificates by NHS boards from the financial year ending 31 March 2001 to 31 March 2007. Figures for earlier years are not available.

  Table 1, Financial Year Ending 31 March

  

 NHS Board
2001 (£)
2002 (£)
2003 (£)
2004 (£)
2005 (£)
2006 (£)
2007 (£)


 Argyll and Clyde
 3,697,780
 3,928,514
 3,883,056
 3,821,970
 3,707,315
 3,841,922
 3,815,203


 Ayrshire and Arran
 3,108,771
 3,251,942
 3,272,420
 3,237,562
 3,174,040
 3,307,247
 3,303,662


 Borders
 935,565
 998,448
 1,033,403
 1,024,119
 981,681
 1,050,237
 1,101,524


 Dumfries and Galloway
 1,404,330
 1,498,885
 1,497,731
 1,467,126
 1,408,478
 1,495,837
 1,499,486


 Fife
 3,093,922
 3,331,168
 3,327,437
 3,220,971
 3,180,565
 3,355,065
 3,318,625


 Forth Valley
 2,616,131
 2,812,279
 2,826,548
 2,792,513
 2,743,895
 2,866,163
 2,844,453


 Grampian
 4,941,904
 5,238,553
 5,256,308
 5,241,881
 5,044,730
 5,430,908
 5,536,993


 Greater Glasgow
 6,300,823
 6,606,784
 6,686,743
 6,415,225
 6,184,607
 6,535,015
 6,605,049


 Highland
 1,805,601
 1,954,248
 2,022,192
 1,940,261
 1,788,703
 2,201,573
 2,190,434


 Lanarkshire
 4,791,954
 5,165,210
 5,227,234
 5,193,207
 5,054,628
 5,206,378
 5,344,135


 Lothian
 6,446,938
 6,840,697
 6,980,084
 6,821,444
 6,704,864
 6,948,815
 7,041,274


 Orkney
 170,628
 176,876
 181,252
 185,025
 184,258
 189,987
 194,896


 Shetland
 240,585
 257,300
 251,383
 253,406
 254,195
 256,094
 277,819


 Tayside
 3,327,776
 3,536,845
 3,579,375
 3,570,025
 3,516,289
 3,579,141
 3,530,944


 Western Isles
 236,017
 240,950
 253,602
 257,909
 280,007
 270,966
 288,694


 Scotland
 43,118,727
 45,838,699
 46,278,767
 45,442,643
 44,208,257
 46,535,348
 46,893,192



  From the beginning of 2006 financial year Argyll and Clyde Health Board merged, with NHS Greater Glasgow and NHS Highland. For the purposes of continuity the figures above have been included separately under Argyll and Clyde. The split of the fees between NHS Greater Glasgow and NHS Highland for the financial year ending 31 March 2007 are as follows:

  

 Greater Glasgow and Clyde
 3,042,522


 Highland
 772,681



  Table 2 shows the number of prescription pre-payment certificates sold to patients by NHS board from the financial year ending 31 March 2004 to 31 March 2007. Figures for earlier years are not available.

  Table 2, Financial Year Ending 31 March

  

 NHS Board
 2004
 2005
 2006
 2007


 Argyll and Clyde
 15,697
 16,617
 17,525
 17,944


 Ayrshire and Arran
 14,590
 15,082
 15,478
 15,845


 Borders
 3,123
 3,901
 4,077
 4,385


 Dumfries and Galloway
 5,455
 5,689
 5,945
 6,152


 Fife
 10,268
 11,402
 11,978
 12,500


 Forth Valley
 10,044
 10,858
 11,724
 12,269


 Grampian
 14,861
 16,880
 18,390
 18,839


 Greater Glasgow
 19,248
 20,724
 22,479
 23,757


 Highland
 6,000
 6,958
 7,797
 8,269


 Lanarkshire
 19,294
 20,625
 21,768
 22,448


 Lothian
 18,369
 20,474
 21,994
 23,561


 Orkney
 676
 704
 735
 756


 Shetland
 1,170
 1,299
 1,287
 1,269


 Tayside
 10,865
 12,137
 12,667
 13,328


 Western Isles
 1,234
 1,409
 1,465
 1,552


 Scotland
 150,893
 164,759
 175,310
 182,874

Regeneration

Jack McConnell (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of financial support is committed by it and other government agencies to the redevelopment of the former Ravenscraig site.

Jim Mather: The Scottish Government and its agencies have provided financial support for the redevelopment of the former Ravenscraig site as follows:

  Scottish Enterprise has approved funding of up to £12.869 million to the Ravenscraig project for infrastructure costs in phase one.

  Communities Scotland has not entered into any legal commitment to provide financial support to Ravenscraig, but has indicated its intention to provide Housing Association Grant to support the development of 350 affordable houses during the lifetime of the project. Communities Scotland is in discussion with local housing associations, North Lanarkshire Council and Ravenscraig partnership about this future contribution.

  The Scottish Funding Council has agreed to provide funding support of up to £42.44 million towards Motherwell College’s new campus project.

Regeneration

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the regeneration of the Clydebank riverside will remain a national priority for the enterprise network.

Jim Mather: Discussions are underway about the transfer of local regeneration activities between Scottish Enterprise and local authorities in line with recent reforms. However, no decisions have been made on the status of individual projects, such as the Clyde Waterfront or Clydebank Re-built Urban Regeneration Company. These will be made shortly and stakeholders will be informed as soon as possible.

  Where formal Scottish Enterprise funding commitments exist for approved projects, these will be honoured.

Sexual Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce undiagnosed HIV infection.

Shona Robison: The Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer have recently issued a joint letter to all doctors and nurses in Scotland on "Improving the detection and diagnosis of HIV in non-HIV specialities including primary care". It states that a special effort on the part of nurses and doctors would do much to improve the situation and highlights best practice about offering and recommending, where appropriate, HIV testing in all healthcare settings, not just those traditionally offering this service.

Sexual Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to set a target for reduction of the rate of undiagnosed HIV infection.

Shona Robison: There is no plan to set a target for the reduction of the rate of undiagnosed HIV infection. An HIV sub-group of the National Sexual Health Advisory Committee has been looking at issues relating to the diagnosis and prevention of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM), the group for which the issue is most relevant, and although recommendations around HIV testing are being considered, these do not include target setting. The reason for this is that, in recent years much has been done to improve the uptake of HIV testing among MSM and heterosexual men and women, including those attending antenatal clinics.

  Two relatively recent policies have improved, dramatically, testing uptake and thus diagnosis of HIV. In 2003, the introduction of routine HIV testing among women attending antenatal clinics occurred and since then, only one or two HIV infections among pregnant women have remained undetected during their pregnancy; this means that the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child in Scotland is now rare.

Sexual Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will increase the number of school nurses by 100% to ensure that all young people have access to nursing staff with sexual health knowledge.

Shona Robison: Our plans are to increase the range of nursing and other health care support available to school-aged children and young people. A health care model targeted at deprived and other areas with high numbers of disadvantaged children will be developed in 2008. We will also use findings of the current review of the sexual health strategy to determine how best to support the contribution of community and public health nurses in delivering the strategy.

Sexual Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all young people have access to chlamydia testing, including people living in remote and rural areas.

Shona Robison: The national sexual health strategy, Respect and Responsibility included an action for NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) to take forward the development of appropriate clinical standards for dealing with sexually transmitted infections. NHS QIS produced draft standards for consultation in July 2007. These include standards for chlamydia testing and partner notification. A specific piece of work was undertaken to ensure that the draft standards met the needs of remote and rural areas. The final standards will be published in March 2008 and will be taken forward by NHS boards.

Voluntary Organisations

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture’s Ministerial Statement on Creative Scotland and Cultural Policy on 7 November 2007 ( Official Report , c. 3072-88), what resources will be provided to voluntary organisations in the arts and crafts sectors to enable them to engage with community planning partnerships.

Linda Fabiani: Community planning already entails local engagement with individuals and organisations in the area of each partnership, including the voluntary sector. As I mentioned in my parliamentary statement, the Scottish Government will provide community planning partnerships with advice and encouragement to help all sectors to play their part in cultural delivery, and to add value through cultural activity.

  Local authorities provide financial resources to voluntary arts and crafts sector bodies in their area in relation to a range of activity. In 2005-06 (the latest figures available) the total amount of local authority grant aid to the voluntary arts sector amounted to about £11.3 million.